How to catch a horse

There they are, the three Musketeers. The three of them get along pretty well. As long as food is not involved. Then Beamer gets pushed to the side until the "ladies" are done eating. In the picture above all the food was gone so they could be nice to each other.

Wednesday night I had a lesson with Mariah. Our lessons have gone up a notch or two in intensity. I am now looking at training her to do endurance competitions and/or Extreme Cowboy competitions. We are working much much harder on speed control and stopping from a lope. We are also working on transitions between gaits, barrel riding, pole bending, moving shoulders and hips and more. She gets worked pretty hard. At the end of Wednesday's lesson she was tired.

Last night KDK (that's Kumi, Dad and Kira) decided to go for a ride. We fed them around 5:00 and went out to catch them around 6:00. 6:00 is usually feeding time and I have learned that horse with a little food in its stomach is more focused on me than on eating. Unless the grass is green and deep, then its just about impossible to get them to focus on their job.

So out we go with our harnesses in hand. Beamer stands quietly, munching on a mouthful of hay, while Kumi puts his harness on. Kira had to chase Ebony around the manure pile once before Ebony stopped and stood quietly while Kira put on her bridle. Mariah would not come anywhere near me. She ran off every time I so much as looked at her. Kumi and Kira started to help me catch her but I told them to just take their horses out. All three of us started walking towards the gate and Mariah headed for the feeder.

She stuck her head in and started munching. When she heard the gate close she looked up at me and said, "HA! I won that one!" Then she causally looked around the pasture and suddenly realized that she was all alone. She looked at me and said, "Wait for me!" and started running for the gate. I stepped in and held her halter in front of her face. She quite obligingly put her nose in the halter and stood quietly as I buckled it. Up to the trailer for a little grooming followed by a brisk ride through the green belt.

I was trying to keep her at a controlled trot and we were doing fine. Then Kumi and Kira went loping by and left Mariah behind. She started to get anxious and wanted to go and I kind of wanted to lope as well so I let her go. That horse is FAST! She decided that not only did she needed to catch up, but she needed to pass them with authority. We tore past Kira and she screamed. We were far enough apart that a collision was not going to happen but Kira was surprised when, "this chestnut and gray blur went flying past," her. Ah. Good times indeed.